Asbestos exposure can lead to devastating health conditions including lung cancer or mesothelioma, which often have unfavorable prognoses.

Once the asbestos fibers are inhaled, they can become lodged into the tissue of the mucus lining of the lung or the lung itself. After a long dormancy period, the fibers fester and quickly overtake the organ, often resulting in a latent diagnosis period.

Both mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer are often diagnosed at a latent stage, leaving most victims of these diseases who were exposed to asbestos with very little treatment options.

Doctors often diagnose these condition with x-rays or other diagnostic image testing. Each case of asbestos lung cancer and mesothelioma is different, but chemotherapy and radiation therapy are often the default treatment options.

What is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is an extremely rare form of lung cancer, which only caused by asbestos exposure. The fibers become lodged in the mucus lining of the lung or lung tissue, but ultimately spreads cancer to both areas. This condition can take up to 50 years for the patient to develop any symptoms, leading to a latent diagnosis.

What is Lung Cancer?

Lung cancer can also be caused by asbestos exposure but may also be caused by smoking, with the fibers attacking the lungs directly. In contrast to mesothelioma, this condition can take only up to 10 to 20 year for the patients to experience symptoms.

Differences Between Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma

Some of the main differences between lung cancer and mesothelioma are:

• Stages: The cancers develop similar in stages one through three, but greatly diverge by stage four with lung cancer spreading to other parts of the body such as bones, liver, and adrenal glands. However, mesothelioma does not usually spread beyond the lungs, but does occasional effect bones.
• Survival rates:  Survival rates of the cancer are comparable for the first year after diagnosis, but asbestos lung cancer patients do have better survival rates. Less than 10% of mesothelioma patients live for more than five years after diagnosis, compared to the 18% of lung cancer patients.

Even though these conditions are similar in symptoms and diagnosis, asbestos lung cancer tend to live longer than mesothelioma. Experts have noticed that it takes much less asbestos exposure to induce mesothelioma than asbestos lung cancer, but are unsure why.

Asbestos Exposure & Cancer

Before the 1980s, asbestos was used popularly as a construction and insulation material for its chemical and fire resistant qualities. The material was also widely used as a manufacturer tool for a variety of purposes and reached the height of its popularity during World War II when asbestos was used in a number of U.S. Navy ships.

However, it has been discovered that a number of veterans and retired workers who worked in the manufacturing industry were suffering from certain variations of lung cancer, specifically caused by asbestos exposure.

Manufacturing companies have been accused of knowing the risk of asbestos exposure, but doing nothing to provide protection to their employees.

Many retired employees and veterans have taken legal action against these parties, resulting in one of the biggest mass litigation movements in the history of the United States. Potential claimants should contact a specialized lawyer, to determine their eligibility to file a lawsuit.